---
title: "Taxes and fees when buying property in Poland | mScanner"
description: "What you pay on top of the price in Poland: 2% PCC on the secondary market, VAT already inside a developer price, the notary fee and court fees. Plus the first-home relief that a flat abroad takes away."
url: "https://mscanner.pl/en/buying-property-in-poland/taxes-and-fees"
lang: "en"
updated: "2026-08-19"
source: "mScanner"
---

# Taxes and fees when buying property in Poland

> mScanner › Buying property in Poland › Taxes and fees

Two purchases at the same price can cost very different amounts to complete in Poland, because the tax follows who you buy from. Buy from a private owner and you pay a 2% transfer tax on top. Buy from a developer and you pay no transfer tax at all, because VAT is already inside the price on the price list.

## Key facts

- Secondary market, buying from a private owner: **2% PCC transfer tax**, paid by you, on top of the price.
- Primary market, buying from a developer: **no PCC**. VAT of 8% or 23% is already included in the advertised price.
- Buying your first home in Poland can mean 0% PCC — but **owning a flat anywhere in the world, including your home country, takes that relief away**.
- On top of the tax: the notary fee (negotiable, capped by regulation) and 200 zł of court fees.

## Buying from a private owner: 2% transfer tax

A resale flat in Poland carries a tax called **PCC** (*podatek od czynności cywilnoprawnych*, the tax on civil-law transactions). It is 2% of the market value of the property, and the buyer pays it, not the seller.

One thing works in your favour here: you do not have to file anything. The Polish notary who draws up the deed calculates the tax, collects it from you on the day and pays it to the tax office. It arrives as a line on the notary bill rather than as a form you have to work out in a language you may not read.

A rate of 6% exists, but it is aimed at investors buying in bulk: it applies from the sixth flat onwards bought from a developer in the same building.

## The first-home relief, and how a flat back home destroys it

Since 31 August 2023, someone buying their first home on the Polish secondary market pays no PCC at all. On a 600,000 zł flat that is 12,000 zł you simply do not pay. You claim it by making a statement in front of the notary; there is no separate application.

The condition is where foreign buyers lose money without ever learning that they could have saved it. The relief requires that you have never held ownership of a flat or a house, or a share in one — **and Polish tax authorities read that as anywhere in the world, not anywhere in Poland**.

The Polish tax authority has said so directly in a case about a Ukrainian citizen: someone who owns a flat in Ukraine cannot use the relief, even after years of living in Poland, even holding Polish citizenship, even owning nothing at all inside Poland. An apartment in Kyiv, London or Delhi removes a Polish tax relief. The Ministry of Finance has also pointed out that it can check, through the exchange of tax information between countries.

If you have ever owned property outside Poland, tell the notary before the deed is drawn up rather than after. Getting this wrong is not a paperwork problem; it is an unpaid tax with interest.

## Buying from a developer: the tax is already in the price

New-build flats work differently. There is no PCC on a purchase from a developer, because the sale carries VAT instead, and the developer is the one who accounts for it. The price on the price list is the price you pay.

The rate is 8% for a flat up to 150 m² and a house up to 300 m², under what Polish law calls the social housing programme. Above those limits, the excess floor area is taxed at 23%. On a 170 m² flat, the first 150 m² carry 8% and the remaining 20 m² carry 23%.

Parking spaces, garages and storage cages are usually taxed at 23% even when they are sold together with the flat, because they are not dwelling space. This is one reason a parking space can look disproportionately expensive on a developer price list.

## The notary and the court

In Poland a transfer of property is only valid if it is done as a notarial deed, so the notary fee is not optional. What the regulation sets is a **maximum**, not a fixed price, and notaries do compete below it.

For a dwelling unit the maximum is halved. The full rate on a 500,000 zł flat is 2,770 zł net, so the ceiling for a dwelling is 1,385 zł net, which is 1,703.55 zł including VAT. At the top end, above 2,000,000 zł, the fee is 6,770 zł plus 0.25% of the excess and can never exceed 10,000 zł.

Then the court: 200 zł to enter your ownership in the land register, and 100 zł more if a new register has to be opened for the property. The notary files this for you. How long the court then takes varies a great deal between districts, and the Ministry of Justice publishes no national figure, so treat any number you are quoted as local anecdote.

- PCC on the secondary market: 2% of value, or 0% with the first-home relief
- VAT on the primary market: 8% up to 150 m² (300 m² for a house), 23% above that and on parking spaces
- Notary: a regulated maximum, halved for dwellings, negotiable in practice
- Land register entry: 200 zł, plus 100 zł to open a new register

## Where this comes from

This page describes the position as at 19 August 2026 and explains the rules in general terms. It is not tax advice about your purchase, and the notary handling your deed is the person who will apply these rules to it.

- Act on the tax on civil-law transactions (PCC), and interpretations issued by the National Revenue Information Service (KIS) on the first-home relief
- Regulation of the Minister of Justice on maximum notarial fees (taksa notarialna)
- Act on court costs in civil cases, article 42, for land-register fees

## Frequently asked questions

### I own a flat in my home country. Can I still get the Polish first-home relief?

No. Polish tax authorities treat ownership of a flat or house anywhere in the world as disqualifying, not only ownership in Poland. This has been confirmed in an interpretation concerning a Ukrainian citizen who owned property in Ukraine. Tell your notary about any property you own abroad before the deed is signed.

### We are buying together and only one of us qualifies. What happens?

Polish courts have held that the relief applies proportionally: the person who qualifies pays nothing on their share, and the other pays 2% on theirs. Confirm the calculation with your notary, since it depends on the shares written into the deed.

### Do I have to file a tax return for PCC myself?

Not when you buy through a notarial deed, which is how property is transferred in Poland. The notary calculates the tax, collects it from you and pays it to the tax office as part of the transaction.

### Is the notary fee fixed?

No. Polish regulation sets a maximum, and for a dwelling unit that maximum is reduced by half. Below it, the fee is a matter of agreement, so it is reasonable to ask a notary what they charge before instructing them.

### Why is the parking space so expensive relative to the flat?

Partly tax. A parking space or garage is not dwelling space, so on the primary market it usually carries 23% VAT while the flat itself carries 8%.

## Related pages

- [Do you need a permit to buy?](https://mscanner.pl/en/buying-property-in-poland/permit-for-foreigners) — Whether your citizenship requires permission before you can buy at all.
- [What the flat costs every month](https://mscanner.pl/en/buying-property-in-poland/monthly-running-costs) — Czynsz is the monthly charge an owner owes the building — heating, the lift, the repair fund — and it is usually the largest line on the bill.
- [Cooperative ownership vs full ownership](https://mscanner.pl/en/buying-property-in-poland/cooperative-ownership) — Spółdzielcze własnościowe prawo do lokalu is a limited property right against the cooperative, and it can exist with no land register at all — which is where mortgage applications fail.
- [Buying a new-build from a developer](https://mscanner.pl/en/buying-property-in-poland/buying-from-a-developer) — Your money sits in a bank escrow account and comes out in stages. The developer must publish every price online, and at handover the clock runs against them.
- [After the deed is signed](https://mscanner.pl/en/buying-property-in-poland/after-the-deed) — You own the flat from the moment you sign. What follows is the register entry, one tax form the notary does not file for you, and the handover.
- [Buying property in Poland](https://mscanner.pl/en/buying-property-in-poland) — The rest of the guides.
- [Transaction prices in Poland](https://mscanner.pl/en/transaction-prices) — What flats actually sold for, from Polish notarial deeds.

## Check a Polish address

See what similar flats actually sold for before you agree a price.

[Check a Polish address](https://mscanner.pl/app/register?redirect=%2Fproperties%2Fnew)